Pam Kragen from the San Diego Union Tribune has interviewed the three Ambrogio15 owners for an article called “Ambrogio15 aiming to serve Americas best pizza in June 2020” about their Del Mar Restaurant
In 2016, a trio of young entrepreneurs from Milan opened Ambrogio15 pizzeria in Pacific Beach, with the goal of making the best pizza San Diegans have ever tasted.
Four years later, with Ambrogio15’s signature Burrata y Prosciutto Crudo pie topping many local “best pizza” lists, they’ve moved on to a more ambitious goal. Giacomo Pizzigoni, Luca Salvi and Andrea Burrone now hope to revolutionize pizza-making in California, if not the U.S., and perhaps become the first pizzeria in the world to earn a Michelin star.
“We want to reinvent pizza,” said Pizzigoni, 30, whose shared company now includes a second Ambrogio15 location and a Semola fresh pasta stand, both at the Little Italy Food Hall. “If pasta and other things can earn Michelin stars, why not the most essential food in Italian cuisine, which is bread? Let’s take our amazing dough and make it our canvas to create something new.”
To launch this revolution, the Ambrogio15 team returned to their roots and hired chef Silvio Salmoiraghi, who helms the Michelin-starred Ristorante Acquerello, a modern Italian restaurant just outside of Milan. Salmoiraghi was a protégé of the late Gualtiero Marchesi, the Milanese chef known as the founder of modern Italian cuisine. Since 2003, Salmoiraghi has launched two Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe.
Over the past several months, Salmoiraghi and his team of chef/partner Choi Cheolhyeok and gastronome Paolo Tucci have been collaborating with the San Diego trio on a gourmet tasting menu that will be served exclusively at the Ambrogio15 location opening June 12 in the Sky Deck dining hall at the Del Mar Highlands Town Center in Carmel Valley.
Pizzigoni said the new location will sell the affordably priced pizzas and other items from its regular menu. But more adventurous diners can choose a chef’s tasting menu featuring some of Salmoiraghi’s new dishes. In late January, Ambrogio15 hosted a five-course tasting dinner with some of the new dishes being developed for the Sky Deck location.
“When we decided to sign the Del Mar lease, we didn’t want to do Little Italy No. 2 and didn’t want to be part of a food court. This was a chance to be in a really modern establishment. It was time to step up our game and challenge ourselves,” Pizzigoni said. “Our pizza has been really successful so it was time to push the accelerator and go gourmet.”
Read the rest of the “Ambrogio15 aiming to serve Americas best pizza in June 2020” article on the Union Tribune Website.
